Frank c



F. C. DE REAMER.

SOCKET.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.I9. I915.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

Inventor: Fran k C. De Reamer,

His fittorne g.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK C. DE REAMER, OF SGHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SOCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 19, 1915. Serial No. 46,383.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK C. DE REAMER residing at Schenectady, in the county 0 Schenectady, State of New York, have mvented certain new and useful Improvements-in Sockets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to sockets and receptacles for incandescent electric lamps and the like, and particularly to switch mechanism for such sockets. The invention is more especially concerned withsocket switch mechanism of the so-called pull type, and it comprises various novel features of construction and novel combinations and ar importance of socket ratings, this assimilation of pull-sockets to sockets of other types is much more than a mere matter of convenience.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view taken at a surface corre sponding to the line 11 in Fig. 2, of a pull socket constructed in accordance with my invention, part of the external casing being brokenaway to avoid confusion.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, many of the upper parts that appear in Fig. 1 being removed to expose those beneath.

Fig. 3 is a tilted view showing how some of the parts shown in Fig. 1 are secured in place.

Fig. 4 is a plan view with some of the parts shown in Fig. 1 omitted, several parts being in section.

Fig. 5 is an exploded tilted view of some of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a bottom view 'of one of the roups of parts shown in Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a similar view of another part.

From Fig. 1 it will be seen that the socket has an external metal casing 10 with an insulative lining 11, these parts being of ordinary size and proportions and constructed in any approved manner. In the enlarged upper portion of the casing 10 is a base structure comprising insulating disk members 12 and 13 (of porcelain, bisque, or other material), separated to aflord space for the switch mechanism but secured together by means of metal brackets 14 and 15 screwed to them. (See Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.) The particular socket shown being intended for lamp bases and the like of the Edison screw type, it has as its terminal means a screw shell 16 and a center contact element 17 at the lower side of the base structure, in the reduced lower end of the casing 10. The screw shell terminal 16 is clamped to the lower side of the disk 12 (see Fig. 3) by means of the irregular foot portion 18 of the bracket 14 which lies in the bottom of the screw shell and has threaded holes 19, 19 for the screws which secure said bracket to said disk. While the screw shell terminal 16 is of very much the usual form and construction, the center contact terminal 17 is peculiar. As shown (see Fig. 1), it consists of a bent metal strip having a portion punched out of the bend 20 to render it more springy and yielding and having an extension 21 bent so as to extend up through a hole in the insulating member 12 and serve as a contact for the switch mechanism. This terminal 17 is secured in place by a hollow rivet 22 that passes through it between its two bends. Electrical connection to the screw shell terminal 16 is made directly (see Figs. 1, 2 and 5) by means of a binding screw 23 in the bracket 14, while to the center terminal 17 connection is made (see Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5) through the switch mechanism by means of a binding screw 24 in a bracket 25 screwed to the disk 12 and havmg a bent up foot 26 that serves as a contact for the switch mechanism.

In the upper side of the disk 12 is a nearly circular recess 30 (see Figs. 1, 4, and 5) at whose periphery are exposed the contacts 21 and 26, and at the bottom of this recess a ratchet element 31 is secured (in a seat so shaped that the ratchet cannot turn) by means'of a hollow rivet 32. In the recess 30 is a rotary switch member or pole piece 33 of phosphor bronze or other springy sheet metal like that of the center contact element l7. The pole piece 33 (see Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6) is in the form of a disk with flipper-like radially resilient con Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

tact portions '34 adapted to Wipe peripherally against the stationary contacts 21' and 26. At the. lower side of the central portion of the pole-piece 33 is a transverse guide-way formed by four lugs 35 punched and bent downward, and in this guideway is a catch 36 having a tongue portion 37 punched and bent downward so as to engage withthe shoulders of the stationary ratchet element 31. Beneath the catch 36 is an actuating cam 38 (see Fig. 6) having a more or less nearly spiral slot for engaging a pin or stud 39 that projects downward from said catch: this cam reciprocates the catch transversely of the pole piece 33. A shaft 40 arranged coaxial with the pole piece 33 and having its bearings in the hollow rivet Y 32 and in a part 41 (see Figs. 1,5 and 6) associated with the disk 13 extends through a slot in the catch 36 and not only serves to operate the cam 38,its fiat sided lower end for this purpose fitting and engaging in a correspondingly shaped hole in said cam,but also serves as a pivot for the pole piece.

The shaft 40 is actuated by means of a ratchet mechanism comprising a ratchet member 42 fixed on the shaft and a chain segment or the like 43 free to turn on. the

shaft and adapted to engage said ratchet member 42 to rotate it counter-clockwise, and said shaft and ratchet member are operatively connected to the pole piece 33 by means of a helical spring 44 around the shaft, one of the bent ends of this spring cured to the insulating'piece and thus insulated from the center piece 46 and from .the pole piece 33. The axially engaging.

ratchet member 42 and segment 43 are 7 shown as having helically inclined ratchet teeth (see Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 7 formed by punching and bending downward portions 48 and 49 of the sheet metal of the parts 42 and 46 so that they come into engagement at their radial edges when the segment turns counter-clockwise and slide freely over one anotherwhen it turns clockwise. The segment 43 is urged clockwise (see Figs. 1, 2, and 5) to the limit of the rotation permitted it by the bracket 14 by means of the helical spring 50 mounted on the shaft 40 and the bearing part 41 and havingits ends engaged againstea bentup lug 51 on the segment and ina hole 52 in the square head 53 of said part 41. The spring 50 is 'sufliciently compressed axially between said head 53 and ing'said part 41 till its square head 53 is below a correspondingly shaped seat in the disk 13, and then turning the part 41' through the proper angle and allowing it to reseat. The segment 43 is actuated by means of a pull connection such as an ordinary ball chain 55 led out through the socket casing 10 in any approved manner, as through a bell 56 (see Fig. 2).

It will be evident that parts 21, 26, 31, 33, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44 constitutes a quarter turn snap switch mechanism with the shaft 40 as its rotary actuating member, and that the parts 40, 42, 43, and 50 constitute a quarter turn ratchet mechanism for actuating the shaft. The parts being in the ositions shown in Figs. 1 and 3, a pull on t e chain '55 will turn the segment 43 against the spring 50 till it strikes the bracket 25,+-a

very little. more than 90. The ratchet member 42, the shaft 40, and the cam 38 will turn para passu with the segment 43, and the spring 44 will be progressively stressed. By the time the parts have turned a full 90, however, the cam 38 will push out the tongue 37 0f the catch 36 beyond the edge of the' shoulder of the ratchet element 31 with which it happens to be in engagement, whereupon the pole piece 33 and the catch 36- will almost instantaneously turn 90 under the influence of the highly stressed spring 44, the catch 36 being simultaneously retracted by the now stationary cam 38 so that its tongue 37 shall strike the next shoulder ofthe ratchet element 31 and arrest the parts 90 from their initial positions. By

'33 the circuit through the contacts 21 and 26 and the pole piece 33 will be so quickly broken that no injurious arc can be drawn or maintained.

As soon as the chain 55 is released, the spring 50-will turn the segment 43 backward till it strikes the bracket 14, and as this happens the segment teeth 49 will slip over and engage the ratchet members teeth 48 that are 90 from those which they formerly engaged. I

The next pull on the chain 55- will produce an exactly similar snap action, except that this time the circuit will be made instead of bein broken.

' O viously the switch mechanism canbe made to operate on any desired degree of turn, according to the number of teeth in the several ratchet parts 31, 42 and 43.

What Iclaim as new and desire tb secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is 1. A pull socket having a base structure and a switch space, termlnal means at one side of said base structure, contact means and a switch mechanism with a rotary actuating member in said switch space, for makin connection to said terminal means, the switch member of said mechanism having a rotary snap movement and making peripheral wiping contact with said contact means,

ratchet mechanism in said switch space for actuating the aforesaid rotary actuating member of said snap switch mechanism, and a pull connection for operating said ratchet mechanism.

2. A pull socket having a base structure comprising a pair of insulating disks separated to afiord a switch space; terminal means at one side of said base structure; a snap switch mechanism in said switch space for making connection to said terminal means, said mechanism comprising a rotary actuating member, a stationary ratchet element, a rotary pole piece having radially movable contact portlons and a shiftablc catch for engaging said ratchet element associated therewith, a spring connection between said actuating member and said pole piece, and means operated by said actuating member for releasln said catch from said ratchet; ratchet mechanism in said switch space for actuating the aforesaid rotary ac tuating member; and a pull connection for operating said ratchet mechanism.

3. A pull socket having a base structure and a switch space, terminal means at one side of said base structure, contact means and a snap switch mechanism in said switch space for making connection to said terminal means, said mechanism comprising a retary actuating member, a stationary ratchet element, a rotary pole-piece having radially movable contact portions adapted to wipe peripherally against said contact means, and a shiftable catch for engaging said ratchet element associated with said pole-piece, a spring connection between sald actuating memberand said pole-piece, and means operated b said actuating member for releasing said catch from said ratchet, ratchet mechanism in said switch space for actuating the aforesaid rotary actuating member,-

and a pull connection for operating said ratchet mechanism.

4. A pull socket having a base structure comprising a pair of insulating disks sep arated to afford a switch space; terminal means at one side of said base structure; contacts and a rotary pole piece in said switch space for making connection to said terminal means, said pole piece having a transverse guideway; ratchet means 1n said switch space secured to one of said insulat- 1n disks; a catch in said uideway of said po e piece for en aging sai ratchet means; a cam for actuating said catch and a shaft for operating said cam mounted in bearings in said disks coaxially with said pole piece; ratchet mechanism on said shaft comprising a ratchet member and a chain segment adapted to engage said ratchet member to rotate it in one direction; a spring connection between said ratchet member and said pole piece; and spring means for rotating said segment in the reverse of the direction aforesaid.

5. A pull socket comprising an insulating member with terminal means at one side thereof and a recess in its other side; contacts mounted at the periphery of said recess and ratchet means secured to its bottom; a rotary pole piece in said recess having peripherally acting contact portions and a transverse guideway; a catch in said guideway for engaging said ratchet means; a cam for reciprocating said catch and a shaft for operating said cam coaxial with said pole piece; ratchet mechanism for operating said shaft comprising a ratchet member attached thereto and a chain segment free to turn thereon and adapted to engage said ratchet member to rotate it in one direction; a spring connection between said ratchet member and said pole piece; and spring means for rotating said segment in the reverse of the direction aforesaid.

6. In a socket, the combination of an insulating member with screw shell and center contact terminals at one side thereof and a recess in its other side, contacts secured to said member and exposed at the periphery of said recess, one of said contacts being in electrical connection with one of said terminals, and switch mechanism mounted on said insulating member including a rotary pole piece in said recess having radially resilient contact portions for wiping peripherally against said contacts.

7. A pole-piece for a rotary snap switch mechanism comprising a disk with peripheral contact ortions having at one side a transverse guideway for a snap catch.

8. A pole-piece for a rotary snap switch mechanism comprising a sheet metal disk having at its periphery radially resilient peripherallyv wiping contact portions and having at one side a transverse guideway for a snap catch.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of August, 1915.

FRANK C. DE REAMER. 

